As Luffy started walking toward the mountain, he noticed Zack's body twitching a bit. He found Zack struggling to move his body but due to the extreme cold and last impact against the tree, he seemed to be unable to do so.
"Don't worry, I will get you three up." Luffy spoke with a serious voice as he walked. He held Nami on his front, Zack on his back, and Sanji in his hand.
"Straw Hat, STOP!"
Suddenly, a voice rang from the side but Luffy ignored him and continued to walk forward.
"Bastard, stop right there!" Wapol's annoying voice rang on and at this moment, his voice reached out deep inside Zack.
Suddenly, Zack opened his eyes with disgust. But, as soon as he regained his consciousness properly, he felt pain all over his body. He realized that his body was almost frozen.
He gritted his teeth as he bears the pain and pulled Luffy's shirt. At this moment, Luffy paused and looked back. He saw Zack awake but still in pain.
"Don't worry, I will get you up there."
With a gentle smile on his face, Luffy spoke.
Zack shook his head and slowly started recovering through breathing. He was trying to breathe more air to increase the blood flow inside his body so that his body will heat up.
"Come on, it won't much of a problem for me." Luffy confidently stated as he walked forward. But, suddenly, an arrow came from behind.
Zack sensed it and pulled Luffy to the side as they managed to dodge the arrow.
"These bastards!" Luffy clenched his fists. If he wasn't in hurry to reach the top, he would've kicked their asses. But now, in his situation, he can't move properly.
"Let me down!"
Zack slowly found his body heating up a bit. As soon as that happened, he immediately asked Luffy.
Luffy was going to refuse but when he saw his eyes, he finally put down Zack. Luffy turned around and his expression got serious.
"I will leave them to you."
Zack was still breathing heavily. When he heard his words, he slowly put a smile on his face and said.
"Aye-Aye, captain!"
"Chess, shoot him to death!" Wapol shouted as he looked at Zack with furious eyes.
"Wapol, don't you know that the government now knows about you being a pirate?" Zack sat down and asked.
When he said that, Chess paused his action and looked at Wapol.
"If you are a pirate, your position as the king of the Drum Kingdom would be snatched from you. The marines will send their forces to capture you." Zack continued.
"Don't joke around! The Government doesn't know that I am a pirate. I am the king of this kingdom. And, don't you think that I don't know what you want? Chess, shoot him to death right now" Wapol snorted and raised both of his hands as if he was making the pose of a kingdom.
'Wow! He is actually a smart one.' Zack was surprised when Wapol managed to figure out his intention. But, the next moment, his expression got serious.
He quickly jumped to the side as he dodged the arrows. Although his body was still painful, he was now moving a bit better. But, he kept on rolling on the snow until his whole body got wrapped by the snow. He activated [themoskin] ,a skill brought from skill chart.
'What the flip?'
Zack realized that he can't even move properly due to the snow atleast his body is little warm but when Chess shot at him, his arrow didn't manage to pierce the snow. It got stuck outside.
Slowly, his lips moved up. He calmly stayed inside as Chess kept on shouting his arrows. Finally, after the sixth arrow, the snowball broke. As soon as the snowball broke, Zack picked up those arrows.
Before Chess and others could react, he threw all of those arrows at them.
"Ahhhhh!"
Wapol screamed and ran away. His two underlings also followed him but the arrows managed to strike Wapol's head. Although it pierce him, it did manage to make a wound on his head.
"Wapol-sama, why are we running? I still have some arrows." Chess spoke.
"Yes, Wapol-sama, we can still fight back." Another underling spoke. He was holding the afro in his hand as he was showing off his will to battle.
"Haha! Did I trick you as well? Who told you that I was running away? Chess, Kuromarimo, give him a surprise at.... Where did he go?"
Wapol shouted.
At this moment, Chess pointed his hand at a far away distance and said.
"Wapol-sama, he is running away."
"Mahahahahahaha! He got scared of my tactic. It seems like he is a smart person. Chess, Kuromarimo, let's go to the top! I will reclaim my throne and become the king once again."
Three of them finally started moving toward the mountain. On other hand, Zack was running back to the town. Although he was running, his speed was very slow, almost like he was walking.
'Damn it! What is going on? I am obviously stronger now. Even Usopp wouldn't get these injuries after the avalanche. What the hell actually happened after I lost my consciousness?'
Zack's mind was full of chaos. When he threw those arrows, he used so much force that his bone cracked a bit. That is why he ran away. Otherwise, he wouldn't need to run away from Wapol and those three.
He had no idea why this was happening but he was getting bad feelings about it. For now, he wanted to reach out to his crewmates as soon as possible.
For the first time after he started his journey, he didn't feel any confidence in himself.
Soon, he saw Zoro fighting against Wapol's army. On other hand, Usopp and Vivi were simply waiting for him to finish.
"Hey, what's going on?" Zack asked as he joined Usopp and Vivi.
"Zack? What are you doing here? Where are Luffy, Sanji, and Nami?" Usopp looked at him with surprise and asked.
"Due to that Avalanche, Sanji and I got hurt. Luffy is taking Sanji with him together with Nami." Zack replied.
"Hey, what do you mean taking Sanji with him? He is going to climb a mountain. Is he going to be okay?" Usopp got scared thinking about it.
"Yes, Zack-san! It is too reckless to climb while taking two people with him." Vivi also supported Usopp. In her eyes, Luffy was truly being reckless.
"Don't worry about it! He is Luffy. He can do it." Zack smiled and replied.
"If you say so…." Usopp sighed and started touching all over his body.
"Wait, where you injured? You don't seem ini….
"Argh!"
Suddenly, Zack groaned in pain and Usopp backed away.
"Zack-san, what happened to your arm? Why are you in pain?" Vivi asked with an anxious expression. She didn't see any external wounds on his arm which made her confused.
"I don't know what happened. After that avalanche, I woke up with freezing bones. I encountered Wapol and his two underlings. When I tried to fight, I suddenly cracked my own bone."
"I truly don't understand what's happening. Usopp, we need to repair that ropeway so that I can also go to the top of that mountain." Zack looked at Usopp and spoke.
"Don't worry but we need to find Dalton-San. Due to the Avalanche, he got distracted and got wounded by that Chess guy. He is currently buried somewhere. We need to find him soon." Usopp said as he rushed to dig Dalton out.
Zack found it very strange. Because Dalton didn't get injured because of Avalanche. He got injured to save his people. He looked at Vivi and asked.
"What happened?"
Hearing his words, Vivi's eyes widened and the next moment she giggled as she explained.
"Ahh! You noticed too. I thought Usopp-san was always scared to take risks but today, he went to fight for this town. He said that someone sometimes ago saved his village. Despite being weaker than his enemies, he didn't stop fighting and protected himself and his village. So, he wanted to do the same."
Zack's eyes widened hearing that. He looked at Usopp and turned silent for a moment. He knew Usopp wanted to become just like him. But, he never thought Usopp would truly take a step toward bravery on his own.
Normally, situations force him to become brave and that's how he has been always. But, it seemed like he changed Usopp.
Whether it was for the good or bad.
'Wait, doesn't that mean there would be less Usopp comedy? No, no, Usopp will definitely come up with another way for comedy. I believe in him. He is a God Usopp after all.' Zack thought and calmed down.
"Oh, Zack, you returned?" Zoro looked at him with surprise as he walked toward him.
"Yeah!" Zack bitterly smiled.
Zoro's eyebrows suddenly twitched as he looked at his arm and asked "What happened to your arm? No, what happened to your body?"
Zack was surprised at first but then realized this person was none other than Zoro, probably the first person to learn Observation Haki, at least close to it before time-skip.
He bitterly smiled and said "I don't know what happened. But for now, it is cracked."